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From:  Greypins@a...
Greypins@a...
Date:  Fri Nov 2, 2001  7:13 pm
Subject:  'chiaroscuro' and tuvan throat singing


as i understand tuvan throat singing, the key to doing it is to sing a
vowel that is low in the vowel spectrum while somehow managing to produce
another vowel that is high in the vowel spectrum. as i have mentioned in
the post 'weird trick...', combining a brooklyn 'oo' with a french 'u'
(exaggerated), works for me (i have a nine year old student who,
demonstrating her understanding, came up with a combo of a nasal murmur and
the french 'u'). i have uploaded a file to the file section of the archives
that illustrates this.

'chiaroscuro' (light-dark) describes an aesthetic ideal of classical
singing (i, immediately, think of robert merrill, ettore bastianini, leonard
warren, pavel lisitsian, ludwig suthaus, ramon vinay, etc.). but, what is
it? i think it is presence of strong high and low frequencies in a voice.
to examine spectral readings of singers who exhibit what we think of as
'chiaroscuro', is to see strong bands around the 500hz. range as well as the
2500-3200hz. range, also known as the region of the 'singer's formant'.

achieving 'chiaroscuro' seems elusive for many singers, partly because so
many descriptions of what it is are vague and also, because so many methods
advertised to produce it, fail to do so. one reason i think a lot of
singers have trouble is that they think they can either produce bright or,
dark but, not the two together. we are all familiar with the wooly voiced
baritone trying to pass as a bass (because he has no top). we are also
familiar with the excessively bright voiced soprano who is often told how
perfect her voice is for the twentieth century literature. often these
singers are choosing one over the other when what they need is both. it is
important to understand that 'bass' and 'treble', in reference to tone
quality, have to do with pitch, specifically, areas of the spectrum that are
highlighted. when you press the 'loudness' button on your stereo, this
boosts both while lowering the mid range (hi-fi's answer to 'chiaroscuro').

the benefit to learning tuvan throat singing or, something like it, is
that it requires producing low end and high end frequencies, at the same
time. the practitioners of tuvan throat singing manipulate the vocal tract
in order to produce what appears to be two different pitches (really just two
different overtones). we can manipulate our vocal tracts to produce two
seemingly opposing tone qualites, for the preceived same pitch, in the same
manner, using the same principles. and, it can be as simple and easy as
figuring out how to do some neat trick.

mike


  Replies Name/Email Yahoo! ID Date Size
15068 Re: 'chiaroscuro' and tuvan throat singing MaryBeth D. Smith   Fri  11/2/2001   3 KB
15069 Re: 'chiaroscuro' and tuvan throat singing John Link   Fri  11/2/2001   2 KB
15070 Re: 'chiaroscuro' and tuvan throat singing Greypins@a...   Fri  11/2/2001   2 KB
15071 Re: 'chiaroscuro' and tuvan throat singing John Link   Fri  11/2/2001   2 KB
15088 Re: 'chiaroscuro' and tuvan throat singing valevanni@m...   Sat  11/3/2001   2 KB
15089 Re: 'chiaroscuro' and tuvan throat singing valevanni@m...   Sat  11/3/2001   2 KB
15072 Re: 'chiaroscuro' and tuvan throat singing Greypins@a...   Fri  11/2/2001   2 KB

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